Thursday, April 22, 2004
Providers Cool to Pawlenty's Twins TV Mediation Proposal
Now it appears that the cable companies are blocking the best proposal for bringing the Twins' Victory Sports to local viewers. The Twins have consented to Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal, under which Victory Sports would immediately be supplied for free to any cable company willing to commit to mediation over the ultimate fee to be charged.
Time Warner Cable responded by telling the Twins to go back to Fox Sports Net. "The true parties to this dispute are Fox Sports Net North and the Twins, and any mediation effort should involve them. ... Any agreement between the Twins and Fox Sports Net North would mean these games would immediately be available to our customers at no retail price increase."
Kevin Cattoor of Victory Sports responded, "Our discussions with (Fox) are over, and it's not possible to go back." That's clearly an overstatement -- but the cable operators' refusal to participate even in a non-binding mediation does not bode well for an early resolution of this dispute.
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Now it appears that the cable companies are blocking the best proposal for bringing the Twins' Victory Sports to local viewers. The Twins have consented to Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal, under which Victory Sports would immediately be supplied for free to any cable company willing to commit to mediation over the ultimate fee to be charged.
Time Warner Cable responded by telling the Twins to go back to Fox Sports Net. "The true parties to this dispute are Fox Sports Net North and the Twins, and any mediation effort should involve them. ... Any agreement between the Twins and Fox Sports Net North would mean these games would immediately be available to our customers at no retail price increase."
Kevin Cattoor of Victory Sports responded, "Our discussions with (Fox) are over, and it's not possible to go back." That's clearly an overstatement -- but the cable operators' refusal to participate even in a non-binding mediation does not bode well for an early resolution of this dispute.
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